The present invention relates to item holders and, more particularly, to portable item holders that vacuum mount to surfaces.
Many conventional item holders, such as conventional key chains, include rings or cords that hold items. A user can temporarily store the holder on a wall by hanging the ring or cord on a hook extending from the wall. The hook may be mounted directly to the wall or mounted on a magnet or suction cup that can be removably attached to a corresponding surface. Other conventional item holders, such as most pictures frames, are designed to display an item on a wall. Such displaying holders must also be hung from a hook extending from the wall. Conventional item holders have many drawbacks.
One drawback of conventional item holders is that they cannot be stored on vertical surfaces unless they are hung on a hook extending from the vertical surface. The hook-and-magnet or suction-cup devices described above are helpful but have limited convenience. For example, a hook-and-magnet device requires a ferrous surface. Thus, the device will not work where the surface is not ferrous. Whatever types of hooks are used, they need to be positioned in every location a user wants to store the key chain. Further, because the hooks required for hanging conventional item holders on a vertical surface are not part of the holders, the holders cannot be stored in many desired locations away from the usual mounting places unless the user takes the hook or hook-having device with them. For example, people cannot mount their key chain to a hotel room mirror unless they have their hook-supporting device with them.
Further, changing a storing or displaying location of conventional item holders requiring hooks fixed to walls for hanging is often cumbersome. For example, nails or other types of hooks often need to be removed from walls when a user wants to rearrange their interior decoration. Removing hooks from walls results in holes and/or scars on the walls, which usually need to be repaired by filling and painting.